Under My Skin

Under My Skin
1950 - 20th Century Fox
Directed By Jean Negulesco



SYNOPSIS

American expatriate jockey Dan Butler (John Garfield) fails to throw a race in Italy, angering some mobsters. He and his young son (Orley Lindgren) flee to Paris to meet his old friend. That friend died many years ago and his girlfriend (Micheline Prelle) blames Butler for his death. The mobsters show up just as the two begin to fall in love. With some lucky bets at the track, Butler is able to pay off the mob and buy a horse, who he makes a champion. But the mob wants him to throw one last race...



MY THOUGHTS

Tough guy John Garfield scores again with Under My Skin.

The film is based on an Ernest Hemingway short story and Garfield fit in perfectly with the typical Hemingway hero-type.

John Garfield provides another strong performance and it fits in with his persona as well. He often played a man with strong ideals who is willing to face death itself in order to maintain them.

This was his third to last role of his career. He suffered a serious heart attack while making the film. That and the incessant bullying by HUAAC helped to bring his outstanding career and life to an early demise.

Orley Lindgren is almost equally good as Garfield's son... impressive for a child actor.

The relationship of the troubled athlete father trying to raise a smart boy alone and in a very unconventional way reminded me of Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper in The Champ. It's done more realistically here and their relationship is one of the film's strong points.

Butler's relationship with Micheline Prelle's nightclub singer isn't as strong.
In fact, it doesn't ring true. She hates him yet somehow warms to him, we assume because of his son, but it's not very clear. Also not clear is how her several years of resentment would just wash away and turn to love. It's all very hokey.

Still, the film is very entertaining and any fan of John Garfield would not want to miss this one.